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A homage to the 1973 publication of Architecture and Utopia by Manfredo Tafuri—echoed in the title—this book is devoted to the radical experiences of the 1960s and to their consequences for the most recent developments in contemporary architecture. As a response to the profound crisis of Western culture the emerged in the 1960s, radical artists from Italy, Austria, England and Japan called into question the foundations of modernist utopias. They transmuted the difficulties of capitalism into a repertory of startling images that revealed the disturbing realities of consumer society, even in those places still resistant to the penetration of modern architecture, such as Superstudio and Arc...
Histories of artists’ personal possessions shed new light on the lives of their owners. Artists are makers of things. Yet, it is a measure of the disembodied manner in which we generally think about artists that we rarely consider the everyday items they own. This innovative book looks at objects that once belonged to artists, revealing not only the fabric of the eighteenth-century art world in France but also unfamiliar—and sometimes unexpected—insights into the individuals who populated it, including Jean-Antoine Watteau, François Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun. From the curious to the mundane, from the useful to the symbolic, these items have one thing i...
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In 1929, Eileen Gray designed Villa E 1027 for herself and her youthful partner Jean Badovici, but only lived there for three years. Today, the elegant house in Roquebrune-Cap-Mar- tin in southern France is an icon of modernism. In 1937, Le Corbusier discovered the place and the “Maison en Bord de Mer”. Inspired by the genius of the place and the light on the Côte d'Azur, he created a total of eight large-format wall paintings there in 1938 and 1939 onwards, some of which complement the building congenially, while others set counterpoints. In 1952, he built his Cabanon nearby and decorated it with murals as well. The book by the well-known architectural historian Tim Benton documents Le Corbusier's artwork at this special place, explores its controversies, and places it in his overall oeuvre. The fascinating photographs by Manuel Bougot capture the special atmosphere of the villa Le Corbusier's painting is lesser known but was formative for his lifelong preoccupation with polychromy After extensive renovation work until 2021, E 1027, as well as the Cabanon, is open to the public again
Meticulously woven by hand with wool, silk, and gilt-metal thread, the tapestry collection of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, represents the highest achievements of the art form. Intended to enhance the king’s reputation by visualizing his manifest glory and to promote the kingdom’s nascent mercantile economy, the royal collection of tapestries included antique and contemporary sets that followed the designs of the greatest artists of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, including Raphael, Giulio Romano, Rubens, Vouet, and Le Brun. Ranging in date from about 1540 to 1715 and coming from weaving workshops across northern Europe, these remarkable works portray scenes from the bible, his...
The evolution of city planning theory and practice in the first half of the twentieth century was captured and driven by a range of exhibitionary practices in a variety of settings globally, from international expos to local public halls. The agendas of the promoters varied, but exhibitions generally drew their social legitimacy from their status as ’appropriate educative agencies of citizenship’. Bringing together a range of international case studies, this volume explores the highly visual genre of public planning exhibitions worldwide. In doing so, it provides a unique lens on the development of modern urban planning and design from the late 19th century to the present day. Focussing ...
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Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806) is today regarded as chief representative of French revolutionary architecture. With his extraordinary inventiveness he projected the architectural ideals of his era. Ledoux’s influential buildings and projects are presented and interpreted both aesthetically and historically in this book. His best-known projects – the Royal Saltwords of Arc-et-Senans, the tollgates of Paris, the ideal city of Chaux – reveal the architect’s allegiance to the principles of antiquity and Renaissance but also illustrate the evolution of his own utopian language. With the French Revolution, Ledoux ceased building as his contemporaries perceived him as a royal architect. He focused on the development of his architectural theory and redefined the vision of the modern architect.
During the 1960s, building sites in Paris became spaces that expressed preoccupations about urban transformation, labour immigration and national identity. As new buildings and infrastructure changed the city, building sites revealed the substandard living and working conditions of migrant construction workers in France. Moreover, construction was the touchstone in debates about the dangers of urban life, and triggered action in communities whose districts faced demolition. Paris Under Construction explores the social, political and cultural responses to construction work and urban transformation in the Paris metropolitan region during the 1960s. This examination of a decade of intensive bui...